Thursday, 11 December 2014

By
1891, the Union for the Resistance to Anti-semitism founded by Artur Suttner
had 1100 members. In an open letter published in Die Neue Freie Presse he wrote:

The
anti-Semitic party (inspired by Adolf Stöcker’s Christian Social Party in
Prussia) lays moral siege to Austria and
puts pressure on timid minds -- and there are more than enough of those.
They conform because they don't want to be labelled Judenknecht
(a servant to Jews).

Special laws against
Jews such as those flourishing in Russia would soon have made their
appearance…and laws against all who do not think as do those gentlemen of the
persecuting party…Thank God, there are still Austrians who
resist their reign of terror.

The
anti-Semitic party first tried to make it a question of religion. Their purpose,
they said, was to fight those who take
up position against Christianity in favor of the Jews. But as Suttner
pointed out, the Union had Catholic priests and Protestant pastors among its
members.

Then they emphasized
the racial difference.
This approach was not very successful in multi-cultural Vienna. Finally they
found an effective means of arousing hatred and envy: financial competition.

Concentration of money (Grosskapital) kill the little man,
they say, and money is concentrated in the hands of the Jews….They
neglected the fact that among Jews too there are people who have barely enough
to eat, but that phenomenon does not exist for those logicians. They see only
the little Christian and the big Jew.

Their arguments are built on feet of clay…but
the average citizen is easily persuaded. They are taught all sorts of things in
school, except logic.

One of our purposes
is to stimulate independent thinking…our twin weapons should be reason and a
sense of justice.

Suttner
was confident that Austrians would come around to his point of view. The great majority today is better
educated, and rowdy attacks in word and deed are not to the taste of cultured
Austrians.

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About Me

I was born in Vienna and obtained a doctorate from the University of Toronto. I am the author of more than a dozen non-fiction books (social history, biography, translation), three novels (Playing Naomi, 2009, Head Games,2013, and The Effects of Isolation on the Brain, forthcoming) as well as a novella, Unspeakable (download from smashwords). I divide my time between Toronto and Los Angeles, and have lived in villages in Argentina, Romania, and Bulgaria. Want to know more about me? Follow me on Twitter @historycracks. Visit my website:
http://www.erikarummel.com/